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Arizona wants to make Medicaid recipients work, place limits on length of coverage

September 29, 2015

Arizona Rep. Gov. Doug Ducey will ask CMS to approve changes in the state's Medicaid program which would require able-bodied, low-income adults to have a job, be looking for one or be in job training to qualify. They would have to contribute their own money to HSAs, which they could use only if they met work requirements or engaged in certain healthy behaviors and most recipients would be limited to five years of coverage as adults. The proposals would not apply to several categories of beneficiaries, including children, pregnant women, the disabled and the elderly. Some of Arizona's proposals have been made in other states, and the federal government has signed off on them. It has rejected work requirements, however, and has never allowed lifetime limits on eligibility.